Encouragement Post - Coronavirus Distancing Day 26 (Friday)

Encouragement Post – Day #26 (Good Friday) I could sit and listen to Phil Keaggy play his guitar for hours.He is such a gifted musician. But as you listen, meditate on these lyrics if you will; this is a simple hymn with rich and meaningful lyrics.

"What language shall I borrow to thank Thee dearest Friend for this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end. O make me Thine forever! And should I fainting be, Lord let me never, never outlive my love for Thee."

O Sacred Head
attributed to Bernard of Clairveaux

O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down;
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory,
what bliss 'til now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call thee mine.

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
was all for sinners' gain:
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest Friend,
for this, thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love to thee.

Speaking of Spinning... and Not Being Antisocial

Does social media make your head spin, or is it just me?  

Photo credit: Hali Newberry Photography

My first foray in the social media world was Facebook.  Ahhh... what a great tool for connecting with all those friends from different eras of my past.  I really do love that aspect of it.  And, now that I have a 3 month-old nephew whom I never get to see in person (seriously, have you ever seen a baseball that cute???), it is a great way for me to "virtually" watch him grow.  But, Facebook really is so here today and gone tomorrow... and even though it saves my things, I have a hard time going back and finding something my friends have posted.  When I check Facebook, one minute something is there and the next it is gone.  I think to myself, "Wait, I wanted to read that."  Have you had a conversation with someone you wish you could go back and reread? I sure have... but, the posts just keep on scrolling ...and scrolling ...and scrolling by.

Then Twitter came along, the place where you can say whatever you want to for the world to see -- or at least your followers -- in 140 characters or less.  I think we can all plainly see why this one didn't work out for me...

Next there was Pinterest... what a great concept: a great visual representation of a link that I want to save.  And, I am such a visual person that it was perfect for me.  You know, the instant recipe keeper for all those delicious looking recipes you see in images all over the internet.  

It was also a great tool for organizationally challenged people looking to improve their organizing skills (me!)  And it was the perfect spot for curating a whole bunch of loveliness in one place.  However, three years down the road half of my image links no longer work.  So that recipe I put off trying for so long still looks great in the image, I just have no idea where the recipe is.  And the organizational site went "poof!" just like my organizational skills.

And then there was Instagram.  Visual instant gratification... "Hey family and friends, look at me doing this or that right now!" ...but with no real conversation (unless you count hashtags... don't even get me started on twentyhashtagsononepicturethaticannotreadbecausetheyallruntogether!!) And again, the images just keep scrolling and scrolling.  If I want to see something from 3 weeks ago I have to 1. remember who posted it, 2. find that person's username, and 3. go look through all their images until I see it.  Too much trouble... I'd rather just move on.

Which brings me right back to where I started ever having conversations online.  I am back here hoping for some meaningful dialogue (or even monologue, should no one care to read it!) interspersed with images and links that hopefully will be more (or less) permanent.  And I am thankful that there are still a number of you who feel the same way!

Not really antisocially,

Charm and Grace... in the words of Rhett Butler

In the movie Gone With the Wind, when Rhett is finally leaving Scarlett, we find this dialogue between them:

Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?
Rhett Butler: I'm going back to Charleston, back where I belong.
Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!
Rhett Butler: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?



Rhett, of course, was talking about the qualities found in the South that "had been" ... before the war came and robbed them of their dignity and pride (misplaced though that pride often was). But there must have been a real charm, grace, and gentle rhythm to life in the South at one time. I think we have tried to hang on to much of that. I know I have. A taste of humility can be a good thing for a people, and that's just what Southerners got from that war. There were so many wrongs that could never be righted. But, the humbling process undoubtedly produced some of the charm, grace, and genuine niceness that I have found around me all my life.

Margaret Mitchell writes of the transition from proud to humble so poignantly in her prose... about that civilization that is gone with the wind. Those words uttered by Rhett Butler in the movie are not actually a direct quote from the book, but the essence of it is there. The movie is where I first heard the words "charm" and "grace" used in conjunction with one another. It apparently made a lasting impression. Aren't they wonderful words? They convey just what you really want life to be like. While we will never really know if Rhett found those things (yes I do realize he is a fictional character), we can make charm and grace a goal for our own lives.



What do the words Charm & Grace mean to you? To me, they speak of the desire for beauty in the daily things of life, sincerity in all my actions, a warmth and rhythm to life, a fondness for those around me, a gentleness with those I am just getting to know, a genuine care and concern for my neighbors... I could go on and on. I hope that those things are what you find when you visit me, my dear blog friends and neighbors!

Blessings,